


Plot Twist: Life Isn't Like the Stories

by puffinmuffin13



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet Ending, Detective and Phantom Thief AU, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Kokichi goes by the codename 'Ace' btw, M/M, Okay there's not actually a ton of comfort here I will warn you, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffinmuffin13/pseuds/puffinmuffin13
Summary: Shuichi hadn't meant to fall in love with the phantom thief.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 100





	Plot Twist: Life Isn't Like the Stories

Shuichi hadn't meant to fall in love with the phantom thief.

He'd been assigned the case three months ago, of catching an elusive burglar who kept tricking and fooling the previous detectives who had tried to figure him out. In those three months, Shuichi had been startled to find he was doing a very good job in his mission, and had anticipated many of the "Phantom Thief's" – he called himself that, for whatever reason – moves and attempted robberies. Shuichi had thwarted one or two, but most of the time the thief just barely slipped through his fingers, tossing some coy lines and playful lies over his shoulder for the detective as he left. Time and time again, the words would echo in the air as the thief disappeared and Shuichi swore in frustration at the spot he'd been only moments before.

And those same words slowly made Shuichi long for something that could absolutely _never_ happen between them.

This wasn't how the story was meant to go. He was meant to catch the thief, turn him in, and continue on with his normal cases of missing pets and infidelity. He'd been expecting it, waiting for it, just like everyone else had. Sooner or later, he was sure he'd find some evidence to identify the thief, and then it would all be over with.

But somehow, that plan – plot? – had gone wrong. Somehow, between all the moments spent between them, the lies and truths told in secret, the hushed words, the lunges to grab the other, the blare of alarms screaming for attention, the long nights of figuring clues out, the chases through hallways... Shuichi had fallen in love.

With a criminal.

And now this story could only end in heartbreak, one way or another.

Shuichi's feet dragged up the museum stairs, as he listened closely for the sounds of a swishing cape or cocky laughter. Both of those sounds had become much too familiar to the detective over the past few months, now playing in his ears when he laid down to sleep, or when he'd stayed up too late trying to connect evidence. It was almost becoming a problem, but frustratingly Shuichi couldn't be mad over it.

Tonight, the thief was suspected to be at this specific museum, here only to steal the prized necklace brought in just last week. It was one of the few things Shuichi had pinned down for absolute certainty about the phantom thief: if there was a new, flashy prize to be had, he would snatch it up like a snake.

And then some charity organization would receive a large donation within the next few days.

Shuichi from a few months ago tried _really_ hard to think that there must be something nefarious about that.

But life wasn't that black and white, he'd eventually learned. In fact, the thief in question – Ace, as was apparently his nickname – had whispered something similar to him the last time they'd met.

_"My beloved," he'd purred, before slipping out of Shuichi's grasp just before the detective could put on the handcuffs he'd brought out, "do you really think so lowly of me? I'm not your average bank robber here. I'm special, mkay? And so are the reasons for the things I do."_

_'Special indeed,' Shuichi had thought to himself, before giving chase and losing track of Ace once again._

So here Shuichi was, standing in a dark, empty room, flashlight in hand and handcuffs at the ready – all for a phantom thief who took and gave and took and gave and stole Shuichi's heart.

"Nishishi!" came from somewhere in the shadows, and Shuichi's meager hope that he'd predicted the thief wrong plummeted. Taking a deep but silent breath, Shuichi crept father into the room, eyes scanning places the thief might hide. His heart was pounding, and Shuichi loathed the fact that it wasn't from fear.

A step. Shuichi whirled around, flicking on the flashlight to reveal one figure all in white standing in front of a window that surely wasn't open when the museum closed. The figure had a mask on, but Shuichi could picture the coy smile underneath.

"Ah, my beloved detective!" Ace spread his arms wide, basking in Shuichi's attention and seemingly not noticing how the moonlight made his cape look like it was glowing behind him. Shuichi suppressed a shiver as he continued, "How nice to see you again! ... Ah, but that's a lie, I hate the sight of you! You make me want to vomit; how dare you enter the same room as me!"

Shuichi gritted his teeth, eyes grazing over the other's outstretched hands. There was no glimmer of gems in either of them, so that could mean that Shuichi had caught him before he could steal anything, or perhaps the necklace was just in his pocket. Shuichi took two quick, decisive steps towards the thief, ignoring his unanswered taunts.

"Hm? How strange, you're not going to say anything, detective?" Ace tilted his head, gloved finger poking his mask where his cheek would be. "Aw, and you were so talkative the last few times you found me! What's changed, my beloved? How have we grown so distant from when you first started chasing after me?"

 _That's the opposite of what happened,_ Shuichi longed to say, but he didn't. He approached gingerly, flashlight still trained on the other, until they were only a few feet apart. Only then did he force a few words from his closed up throat.

"What's there to talk about?" he asked, harsher than he wanted to – but perhaps as harsh as he _needed_ to. His grip tightened on his light, but he _couldn't_ back down, couldn't take the words back, because then what would he do? "I'm here to catch you. I suppose there's no point in asking you to come quietly, though?" His teeth gritted.

Ace giggled. "Wow, my beloved knows me so well! I'm sorry, but you're right; I can't just go turning myself in like that! I have a reputation to uphold!" He out a mocking sigh and then a laugh as he subtly stepped towards the window, but Shuichi predicted it, and slid in front of the window before he could escape. The thief paused, and then brought a hand up to his mouth as if to hide a grin or frown. "Aww, you're really trying to stop me from leaving this time, aren't you! My beloved is so –"

"Stop calling me your beloved," Shuichi demanded, or maybe it was more like begged, as the words came out in a breathless way that fit tightly into the limited, quiet light. "We're not together, and never will be."

The thief paused. Tilting his head the other way, he stared at Shuichi for a moment before he loudly whispered, "Would you like it if we were?"

"No," Shuichi responded immediately, even as his heart cried _yes_. "You're a thief, and you always will be. That's why we can never be together, and I'll never love you. I'm here to stop you, you're here to steal, and if you escape me again we start again in some other location. Isn't that the game here?"

It wasn't until the words left Shuichi's mouth that he realized he'd subconsciously absorbed the thief's way of referring to the case and stealings as a game. A game, a game, that's all it ever was to him.

"Yes," the thief agreed, as if he knew exactly what Shuichi was thinking right now – and it amused him. "A game between the dashing detective and the daring thief, made up of little mini games featuring Chase and Hangman's Gambit," he joked, but Shuichi knew he meant the first part seriously. Though he still wasn't sure what to think about the compliments, Shuichi had grown somewhat used to them over time.

Unfortunately, he still blushed at every one.

Like right now.

And he knew the thief had noticed. But strangely, he wasn't commenting on it this time.

Instead, he took a step closer, and said, "Hmm, but are you sure that's the truth, my be-lov-ed?" He said each syllable deliberately, strongly, and before Shuichi realized what was happening the thief was right in front of him, pinning him to the wall without even touching him as he leaned up so Shuichi could meet his eyes through his mask. "I think you're hiding something. Something even you want to lie about!"

Ace's violet eyes were beautiful, Shuichi realized (though _definitely_ not for the first time), and Shuichi forced himself to lunge in an attempt to grab Ace.

Ace leaped away, nimble on his feet, and Shuichi caught his balance with a glare at the thief. Ace cackled.

"Wow, my beloved –"

" _Stop,_ " Shuichi asked again, begged again, because he couldn't _stand_ those words coming out of his mouth –

"– must really want to kiss me, if he's jumping at me for a kiss!" Ace slid backward, hands behind his back, but Shuichi just stared at him while trying not to let his hands (currently curled into fists) tremble, and Ace tilted his head in apparent confusion.

"Hm? What's wrong, what's wrong?" Ace rocked back and forth on his heels, while Shuichi stared below his eyes at his chest. "Did what I say bother you that much? If I knew I could keep my love from chasing me by just hinting at a kiss, I would've done it ages ago!"

 _My love._ Those two words choked Shuichi up, made his nose scrunch up and his breathing hitch, because along with them came the implication that Ace never cared for him – not as a detective, not as a rival, not as a concern, not as... Well.

He'd teased as much before; why was Shuichi so disappointed?

Why did it feel like there was poison flowing through his veins and tearing apart his heart?

"Stop..." The word left Shuichi's mouth as a whisper, and when he realized he said it, he cleared his throat, speaking it again – but this time, with an expected meaning and not a genuine one. "Stop your nonsense, Ace. Just come quietly."

There's a moment where both of them are still. "... You don't sound like yourself," Ace said after that moment, tapping on his mask near the side of his face. "Are you sure you haven't been taken over by aliens invading your brain?"

"I'm sure," Shuichi said, barely bothering to offer the half-hearted reply. He didn't say a word about the first comment.

 _No,_ Shuichi responded instead in his head, _but I sound like how I'm supposed to, and that's good enough._

"Are you, though?" Ace's voice is calm, with not a shred of his usual teasing. He rocked back and forth again, but this time only once before stopping. "Are you sure you're up for catching me tonight, Detective Saihara?"

It's his way of asking him if he's okay, and Shuichi _knew_ this, but he pushed it aside and chose to lunge again instead.

This time, Shuichi dropped his flashlight when Ace jumped away, and Shuichi managed to grasp his hand for just a moment, making Ace gasp as Shuichi yanked him back towards him and slid the handcuffs around his scrawny wrists like he's been trained. Ace struggled, but his hands had been cuffed in front of him, so he's left to jerk himself away from Shuichi and sprint deeper into the museum, unable to use one of his smoke bombs like he normally would.

Shuichi followed; followed him to the unfinished exhibitions area, where he knew there were no cameras because he memorized the layout on a map he studied.

Ace was waiting for him at the end of a hallway as Shuichi turned a corner, and Shuichi found that there was nowhere left for him to run. It's just them, a long stretch of unused floor between them and a plain wall behind Ace that only emphasized how trapped the phantom thief is. It's hard to see him, as the corridor is dark, but Shuichi can tell Ace is facing him. Shuichi's breath hitched – was this the end of their long chase? Of all the yelps and alarms and long nights and teasing? After months, was this one encounter that started with only the sound of laughter about to be shown as the last? When Shuichi enters the detective agency tomorrow, will there be congratulations instead of bucket loads of unwanted advice on how to catch the thief that can't get out of Shuichi's head?

Shuichi was bent over, panting even though they'd been running for only a minute, so he straightened up, opening his mouth to speak – but Ace beat him to it.

"So, great detective!" he began, with a loud voice that echoed and would surely be accompanied with a grand gesture if he had the free hands for it, "It seems you've finally cornered me. How brave! How bold!"

Shuichi, still gathering his breath, didn't respond, slowly stepping towards the thief, who didn't move. Probably because he already knew there was nowhere to go.

"Do you have any words to say before you take me in? Some dramatic speech worthy of a wonderful detective like you? C'mon, spill it!"

The mocking compliments grated at Shuichi, and he bit his tongue so as to not say anything. He quickened his step, nearly at Ace now.

"Aw, and here I thought you'd be more exciting," Ace sighed, just as Shuichi reached him and brought a hand up to the edge of his mask, prepared to lift it. He muttered under his breath, just as Shuichi's hand started moving upwards – "I guess that's what I get for falling in love with a detective."

Shuichi stopped.

_No..._

_"I guess that's what I get for falling in love with a detective."_

**"I guess that's what I get for falling in love with a detective."**

**_"I guess that's what I get –"_**

Shuichi couldn't help it.

He burst into tears.

He burst into tears, and he stumbled away from Ace, trying to wipe away the tears as they fell, because he was _not_ supposed to love the _villain_ of this story! He knew it, he knew it, and here he was about to end it. But his shoulders shook and he gasped for breath, turning away from Ace as his face burned, burned, burned like his eyes, and his throat felt like he'd swallowed a needle as he coughed and cried out wails stifled by his own gloved hand over his mouth.

_No... No, please... I can't..._

Shuichi wept, inside and outside, at the prospect of being the one who put his love behind bars.

"My beloved?" Ace said, voice conveying just as much shock as Shuichi felt grief and guilt, and Shuichi fell to his knees in front of him.

"I can't," Shuichi confessed, taking his hand off his mouth so he could wipe at the snot he could feel beginning to dribble from his nose, before shaking his head hopelessly as tears ran freely down his face. "I can't do it, I can't believe that, that has to be a lie –"

Shuichi broke off to take a stuttering gasp; his eyes were shut tight by this point, if only so he wouldn't have to risk making eye contact with Ace – no, with the thief. Shuichi scrambled in his mind for some semblance of training on what to do in this situation, but he couldn't find anything, and his heart screamed as it was being torn apart.

Hands, soft hands, were suddenly on his tear-wet face, and Shuichi pulled away as his eyes flew open – only to see Ace kneeling down in front of him without his mask.

His eyes, which Shuichi had only caught glimpses of, were filled with a watery concern ( _Concern he wasn't supposed to have, because they were supposed to be enemies_ ), and his lips were pursed, open just a smidgen in his upset frown ( _If he was upset, it must be because he had been cornered, because all of Shuichi's searching for any feeling in Ace was based on nothing but a gut feeling he had to be wrong to trust_ ), and steadily – steadily, but certainly not calmly – Ace told him a few simple words that made him catch his already sputtering breath.

"If you heard that... That wasn't a lie."

_No. No! It had to be!_

"My beloved..."

Shuichi squirmed, trying to look away, look anywhere else, but Ace's grip on his face forced him to either stare at Ace or shut his eyes in desperation. So he did the latter.

It occurred to him then that he could just shove Ace away, but Ace's murmured words hit his ears before he could move.

"I love you. Believe me, I love you."

And then Shuichi felt lips on his own.

The first instant, of softness pressing against his lips, made him think he might faint. But Shuichi opened his eyes to see Ace leaning forward, and no – he's much too in shock to even faint.

Or kiss back.

So Ace pulled away with a blank, disappointed expression on his face.

Tears still spilled down Shuichi's cheeks, and his shoulders still shook, but Shuichi was too distracted to care about that. He blinked, still stunned, still disbelieving, and he thought, _It's funny that even without his mask, Ace is as hard to read as ever._

The thought made him chuckle. The chuckle made Ace's eyes widen.

"You can't love me," Shuichi protested in a whisper. "We're supposed to hate each other. I'm not allowed to love you."

"But you do," Ace responded, and Shuichi bowed his head.

"I do. And I hate myself for it," he admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I'm supposed to be a grand, wonderful detective, like you said."

There's a beat of quiet where Shuichi can only hear Ace's breathing and his own sobbing.

"I'll stop calling you that, then, and come up with better nicknames!"

"It doesn't matter. I– I need to bring you in." Shuichi bit his lip, then, because he's said too much and he needs to shut up; just finish the job and finish the story.

But he didn't move.

Ace did, instead, leaning forward again to kiss away his tears.

Shuichi closed his eyes again, and let him do it without protest (even though he _should_ protest, and loudly).

"I'm sorry," Ace whispered right into his ear, making Shuichi shiver. "But I think that's a lie. Can't we just continue our game?"

_"Can't we just continue our game?"_

Shuichi lifted his head and opened his eyes, and he could see a spark of teasing hope in Ace's eyes.

"Kiss me," he said, hoarsely, because it's as good as an agreement as he can get out right now.

Ace dove in to comply.

Later, Shuichi will find the necklace safe and sound, and receive praises for stopping the phantom thief from getting away with the jewelry. He'll get pats on the back, and more advice he doesn't want, and another unending reminder that swirls around his head about how _the story's not over yet, champ,_ and how everyone's counting on him. Later, Shuichi will spring Ace from his handcuffs, only to find his flashlight broken as he pretends to chase the thief right out the window to where he's surely prepared a getaway. Later, Shuichi will feel bitter and empty and pour over the case again, while his head is filled with thoughts of someone he's not supposed to love.

Right now, though, Ace's tongue slips into his mouth, and even through his own self hatred at how he loves it, Shuichi is glad there are no cameras in this part of the museum.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. I didn't mean for this to come out as angsty as it did, but I love it anyway. Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to come scream at me on Tumblr (my blog's himiko-yumehellno). Have a nice day!


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